[Rhone]

[ QUOTE ]
LOTS of people do NOT play to win.

That's one of the basic themes of my "The Psychology of Poker." If you want to understand HOW people play, you must understand WHY they play and vice versa.

If fact, YOU do not play only to win. You have lots of other motives, and some of them cost you significant money.

The most important player for you to understand is yourself.

Regards,

Al

[/ QUOTE ]

Right, the question of why he plays is what I addressed in the last paragraph of my post, trying to understand what his motivation is.

You write that we all have mixed motivations for playing, some of which do not involve maximizing returns. Ok, fine. But the only thing I could infer about his motivations from observing him was a single-minded determination to give his money to the other five people at the table. I don't really believe this is what was going through his head, though, which is why I'm asking what others think his true motivations might be.